Azerbaijan - Race

Saturday's qualifying session was packed to the brim with tension and the emotions didn't ease up as the day ended. Pierre Gasly was disqualified from qualifying after his car was found to be over the fuel flow limit. He was supposed to start the race P13, but moved to the back of the grid. His teammate qualified last and decided to use the occasion to take a new engine and start from the pitlane. He wasn't the only one, as Lewis Hamilton also took a new engine, a somewhat controversial decision that dropped him from the fourth row all the way to the pitlane.

The strategy for Baku relied on a 1-stop race and switching from mediums to hards or vice versa. Most drivers opted for the first version, with only a few deciding to start the race on the harder compound. Among them were Alex Albon and Lando Norris. 

Leclerc's great reaction time allowed him to keep the lead. Piastri stayed in second, while Perez did all he could to get past Sainz. Even though his tire locked up on the very first corner, he still managed to overtake the Spaniard. His teammate slid into P5. Norris, Verstappen's main contender for the driver's championship, made up a few positions upon the start and finished the first lap in P12. What helped him achieve that, was Stroll and Tsunoda colliding strongly enough to cause a puncture in Stroll's tire. The Aston Martin immediately pitted, while the RB stayed out on track. Although Tsunoda completed a few laps, he had suffered extensive damage to the side of his car and quickly became the first driver out of contention for points. 

Leclerc and Piastri stayed close together, trading fastest laps. Behind them, Perez and Sainz also kept up with the pace, the Red Bull slowly but surely creeping up on Piastri. A bigger gap began building up between P4 and Verstappen in P5. 

Since the race was predicted to be a 1-stop for most drivers, the pit stops would prove crucial to the order. Colapinto started the domino of tire changes at lap 11. Verstappen, Russel, and Hamilton all boxed at lap 13, while Perez decided to stay out for one more lap. He exited 6th, right behind Norris, who was going for a different strategy, having started off on the hardest compound. 

By that point, a 6-second gap had built up between Leclerc and Piastri. The young Australian had to watch his back as Perez was threatening to undercut him on his fresh set of tires. In the spirit of team play, Norris was asked to hold Perez up as much as he could, giving his teammate a chance to pit without losing position to the Red Bull. The strategy worked and saw Piastri exiting the pit before Perez could find a way past him. 

Leclerc pitted on lap 17, making Sainz a temporary leader. Piastri's McLaren took a particular liking to the harder compound, and the young driver was rapidly making his way through the track, eating away at the advantage that Leclerc had managed to build up. By the time Sainz pitted and the proper order of the race was restored, the gap between them had dwindled down to less than two seconds. 

Piastri stayed right on Leclerc's tail and on lap 20 went for a bold dive that secured him the lead. But the Monegasque wasn't going to make it easy for him to keep it. He stayed right behind the McLaren, never falling out of his DRS. The two would stay locked in their positions for multiple laps, always with less than a second between them. 

Sainz was looking to score some much-needed points for Ferrari as he overtook Norris and Albon, the two drivers in the top 5 who hadn't yet pitted. Albon changed his tires on lap 22 but Norris extended his stint far longer. He bolted on his mediums on lap 38 and came out about 15 seconds behind his main championship rival. With much fresher and much softer tires, he was dead set on catching up to Verstappen. Before the race came to an end, he managed to do just that. 

Leclerc tried to find a way past Piastri, but the Australian's flawless driving didn't leave any space for overtakes. The top three were locked in a tight batter with Leclerc closing in on Piastri and Perez closing in on Leclerc. With only a few laps to go, the Ferrari's tires gave out and a gap between the top two slowly but surely grew to about four seconds. By that point, Piastri's win was all but secured, but that didn't mean that so was Leclerc's P2. Perez took advantage of the Monegasque's struggles but couldn't find a way past the scarlet car. In his effort, he in fact lost a place to Sainz. 

The Spaniard pushed hard but so did Perez. The two were driving incredibly close to each other. Maybe, or surely, too close, as on the penultimate lap of the race they made contact and crashed into the barriers. Neither of them was able to continue racing. Their incident brought out a yellow flag and a virtual safety car. 

And it was under that safety car that Piastri took his second-ever win, cheered on by every McLaren fan who made their way to Azerbaijan. His phenomenal performance earned him the top step of the podium and the well-deserved title of driver of the day. Leclerc had to settle for P2, a result that could be considered a victory to some, but not him. With Sainz and Perez out of the race, everyone behind them moved up two places which made for a rather unexpected top ten. 

Russel, who wasn't looking like a podium contender, finished the day in 3rd. Throughout the race, Norrise moved up from 15th to 4th, an achievement that he was sure to be praised for by his team. Verstappen and Alonso ended up 5th and 6th respectively. For the first time this season, both Williams' drivers managed to score, with Colapinto's 4 points being the first points since 1982 to be scored by an Argentinian driver. Hamilton may have started from the pit, but it didn't stop him from taking home 2 points. And in P10, Bearman became the only driver this season to score points for two different teams after his great showing at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. 

The results had a huge impact on both championship standings. For the first time this season, McLaren is leading the constructor's championship, having outscored Red Bull. While Verstappen is still first in the drivers' standings, only 59 points separate him and Norris. A the two aren't the only ones who are eying the grandest F1 trophy. There are currently 19 points between Norris and Leclerc, and 13 points between Leclerc and Piastri.

Order of the grid:

1. Oscar Piastri

2. Charles Leclerc

3. George Russel

4. Lando Norris

5. Max Verstappen

6. Fernando Alonso

7. Alex Albon

8. Franco Colapinto

9. Lewis Hamilton

10. Oliver Bearman

11. Nico Hulkenberg

12. Pierre Gasly

13. Daniel Ricciardo

14. Zhou Guanyu

15. Esteban Ocon

16. Valtteri Bottas

DNF: Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz, Lance Stroll, Yuki Tsunoda